MALMO, SWEDEN (Top40 Charts) The day started with the Host City Insignia ceremony where the mayor of Baku handed over the symbolic Host City keys to the mayor of Malmö. Starting from that moment, it's officially Malmö's turn to take over the hosting responsibilities.
Soon after that, the presenter of the event Pernilla Månsson Colt assisted by Josefine Sundström, announced it was time for the most exciting moments to arrive and all countries were drawn into the Semi-Finals as well as in either the first or the second part of the shows. The first Semi-Final has 16 participants and the second one 17 contestants.
First Semi-Final, 14th of May
First half
Denmark
Croatia
Ukraine
The Netherlands
Austria
Slovenia
Estonia
Russia
Lithuania
Serbia
Ireland
Belarus
Cyprus
Montenegro
Belgium
Moldova
Second Semi-Final, 16th of May
First half
Latvia
Azerbaijan
Malta
Iceland
San Marino
FYROM
Finland
Bulgaria
Israel
Norway
Albania
Hungary
Switzerland
Georgia
Greece
Armenia
Romania
Denmark and Norway were already drawn into the first and the second Semi-Final respectively in November to assure a fair distribution and sufficient availability of tickets over neighbouring countries.
Israel was also allocated to the second Semi-Final.
After that it was also drawn which Semi-Final the already qualified countries, the so-called Big 5 - Germany, Spain, France, the UK, Italy - and the Host Country of Sweden will broadcast and vote in.
First Semi-Final
United Kingdom
Sweden
Italy
Second Semi-Final
France
Germany
Spain
The whole process was overseen by the EBU Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand and
Thomas Niedermeyer from Digame, the official voting partner.
The final running order of the shows will be decided by the producers of the show this year and approved by the EBU Executive Supervisor and the Reference Group.
This year's Eurovision Song Contest will take place on the 14th, 16th and 18th of May in the Swedish city of Malmö. 39 countries are set to take part in the 58th edition of Europe's favourite TV show.